More people love Taiwan's bubble tea

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It is spreading so quickly that it is resembling an epidemic, but this one is healthy and trendy. It is tea, but not the usual brown, plain-looking kind. It's bubble tea and you can find it at most malls or other business centers here.

You can often spot children or adults in some business centers and big malls in Jakarta slurping down the colorful and delicious drinks from huge fat straws. They are drinking bubble tea.

Bubble tea has gone worldwide, almost like McDonald's and Coca Cola has, although it doesn't come in one flavor, but has more than 100. It is also more democratic as it has opened more private concessions.

The beverage, nicknamed Chinese Cola or the McChildren's drink of the decade by many, is usually cool, refreshing and sweet. It is served in a big clear plastic cup with a large fat straw. The straw is specially designed to sip up the pearls made of tapioca starch.

According to several websites specially dedicated to the love of bubble tea, the drink originates from Taiwan and the trend soon spread to other Asian countries, including Japan. Not long after, bubble tea also traveled across the Pacific Ocean and began to appear in many Asian communities in North America.

It was Liu Han-Chieh who introduced Taiwan to tapioca pearls in 1983. He added the pearls, which can come in black or white, into the country's favorite drink, tea. Other tea vendors then added fruit flavors, which were well liked by children.

The beverage was brought to Indonesia in May 2001 and pioneered by PT Lingkar Natura Inti, which bought the franchise from the Taiwan-based Quickly.

Nini Faridz, the company's operational director, said there were 24 counters throughout Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya's big malls and business centers. "And many more are still interested in opening a business."

There's more. Check out some of the advertisements in local newspapers. Many are expected to become part of the bubble tea global movement.

Nini said favorite flavors were the Red Pearl Milk Tea, Jasmine Pearl Milk Tea, which uses low-fat milk, Taro Pearl Tea, which uses milk made from taro, Melon Pearl Tea and Macha Pearl Milk.

Priced from Rp 7,500 (US 83 cents) to Rp 15,000, a bubble tea counter in Jakarta can sell up to 50 cups per day on average.

At Plaza Senayan, Central Jakarta, an attendant at a bubble tea counter said consumers ranged from toddlers to the elderly.

"Everybody loves bubble tea, I think. Here, the flavor most asked for is the Blended Pearl Milk Tea. It's a mixed fruit flavor combined with tea and milk," said Bobby, who was at Millennium Bowling.

Some first-timers however, said the tea tasted "weird and unusual".

"If it wasn't this expensive, I would throw it away. I'd rather have a bottle of Coca-Cola or just bottled tea. This taste is too unusual for me," said Dino, who was at the Carrefour supermarket in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta.

On an Internet site, bubble tea has reportedly brought fortune for vendors in the Philippines where one seller who initially operated one stand, set up several counters within just months.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, Evi Susanto, the owner of the Quickly bubble tea counter at the Carrefour supermarket in Lebak Bulus, shyly declined from revealing the profits her business had made.

She said her counter had yet to show significant profit because it was only 10 months old. Anyhow, she said, she was content if she could afford to pay her staff's wages.

"It's not for serious business anyway. It's just a pastime, and I am happy to give the children (her staff) work to do," Evi said.

She may not have made much profit yet, but during the busy hours, customers were in a long line just to get a bubble tea from her counter.